The province is not about to wade into a Lambton Area Water Supply System dispute about water towers and associated infrastructure.
The LAWSS Board voted to add the towers in Brigden and Wyoming to the system at an estimated annual cost of $50,000.
LAWSS Chair Andy Bruziewicz says the 6-5 weighted vote did not adhere to the two thirds provision in the Municipal Water and Sewage Transfer Act and asked the province for clarification.
The City of Sarnia has five votes and pays 60% of all LAWSS costs.
In a letter from the Office of the Attorney General, Bruziewicz was told the Crown no longer owns or is responsible for LAWSS after it was downloaded to the six involved municipalities. If a dispute arises, the letter says legal advice should be sought or the issue submitted to the Ontario Municipal Board.
Bruziewicz maintains the rules are clearly set out in the act.
"The city asked the involved municipalities to reconsider their decision and that has not happened, so a independent legal opinion may be forthcoming," says Bruziewicz. "That hasn't been done yet. I would like to avoid the expense of an OMB hearing. "
He says he is not pleased with Queens Park.
"I thought [the] legal services branch of the Ministry of the Environment should serve the residents of Ontario by giving its interpretation of their own documents," says Bruziewicz. "That explains why it's difficult for this province to move forward. The government basically issues a governance directive and leaves us to interpret it, at the municipality's expense."
Bruziewicz says LAWSS will have to dip into reserves to come up with the money and the decision was not in the best interest of the entire system, something St Clair Township disagrees with.
Two members of the board who voted in favour must change their minds to bring forward a reconsideration.
