A former contracted engineer for the Village of Nakusp is taking exception to what he believes is an unfair characterization of his work with the Village.
Delterra Engineering Ltd.’s Trevor Shephard responded to a village council report by CAO Linda Tynan which stated the Village terminated its contract with Delterra because it was “believed that the projects were not being effectively managed.”
Shepard said there were responsibilities that lay with the village for delays in projects that were not mentioned in the report, making the report one-sided in his opinion.
“My company completed many, many successful projects for the village,” Shephard told the Arrow Lakes News. “And they would not be getting their Climate Action Award without my creativity and ideas that got those projects approved.”
Shephard said the Village of Nakusp and other parties bear responsibility for many cost overruns. He pointed to issues of additional work required in response to municipal zoning changes, increased Ministry of Environment requirements and a high turnover of managerial staff in the years since 2005 as factors that increased costs.
In a letter to the Arrow Lakes News, he estimates the costs in increased work due to changes made by the Village to be in the order of $250,000.
“I don’t think that was fair at all,” said Shephard about the CAO’s report.
“This is important to me because I built my business with projects with the village,” Shephard said. “I did do a lot of stuff for them and for them to end on a note like this is unfair.”
When asked for a response to Shephard’s comments, mayor Karen Hamling said it was unfortunate that things have turned out the way they have, and deferred questions to CAO Linda Tynan, pointing out that the day-to-day workings took place between the CAO and the Engineer.
“If I could talk to you about the details, you would see a whole different picture, but because it was in camera, I can’t,” said Hamling, who said the CAO was the person to discuss the details. The CAO was unable for comment as she is on vacation until mid December.