Like with any project that either cost a large amount of money, is time-consuming or has many layers causing it to be brought back to city council multiple times for various reasons, Monday night's city council meeting saw yet another motion that raised confusion and some further discussion before being voted on. 

"For water main replacement the proposed budget, in this case of $455,000 in advance of final budget approval and that city council authorize the engineering department to award the tender project for 2019 TR1 paved roadways (with a) proposed budget amount of 2.45 million in advance of final budget approval," explained City Engineer, Josh Mickleborough who detailed the very motion that was brought forward. 

The questions were asked shortly after that by Councillor Brian Swanson, who wanted clarification on the document posted by the city on SaskTenders and how much the project entailed when it came to water main replacement.

"Just note that's a pretty important number. Have these already been issued, these tenders", Swanson asked. Mickleborough replied by saying they "were looking to award at this point". 

The reason Councillor Swanson brought forward various questions was because he said the tender was only posted for a few days. He stated that City Council approved their last motion after a regular meeting on the 14th of January and when he looked at the site, the document stated that it closed on the January 17th, therefore creating a very small window in his eyes. 

"On the water main matter that's an RFP (Request For Proposal) for the design services to assemble the information for what that program will look like for 2019 and then to develop the tender to be issued, so there's no tender for construction it's simply the RFP for the design services at this stage," detailed City Clerk/Solicitor Myron Gulka-Tiechko. 

Councillor Swanson also said that the motion they approved last month was for the construction tender, not for consulting. According to the agenda released by the city prior to the meeting, the document states that the previously voted on motion says that the "projects listed have already gone to tender as per city council motion passed on January 14, 2019."

Before everyone could reach common ground Councillor Swanson didn't want to hear about the project any longer. 

Eventually, the motion was voted in favour and carried, so city engineering will now award the lucky contracts for consulting services in the amount of $455,000 for Phase 4 Water Main Replacement and Paved Roadways for 2.45 million prior to city officials finalizing the capital budget for 2019.