SUMMERSIDE – Summerside City Council is no longer debating whether to or not to hire Honeywell to perform a major energy project.
Councillors approved the motion Monday to enter into the $3.6-million partnership 6 to 2, with Tyler DesRoches and Brian McFeely voting against the proposal.
DesRoches said he was surprised by the turnout.
The final vote came after DesRoches suggested partnering with Honeywell for a portion of the project, which included anything with a 10-year return or under, and McFeely made a motion to amend the resolution saying the city would partner with Honeywell for only the streetlights to begin with and then continue further relations later. Both suggestions were not supported.
“I would have liked to see it go the other way. The project as a whole has a return of about 9.8 years, but when city staff asked if they would do it without the streetlights, which were the cash cow of the project, they wouldn’t. I would have liked to see us agree to everything that had a 10-year return or under.”
DesRoches said through the process he asked himself if he were using his own money would he agree to the partnership. He wouldn’t.
“To me, it’s throwing good money after bad. We know we need a new fire hall, so why should we sink $40,000 into the old one and not get the return. There are some things with a 28-year return on investment that’s not a wise business decision. But when you combine them all together it gets done in a 10-year return.”
Before a decision was made, Luis Rodrigues, vice-president of energy and environment solutions for Honeywell, made a presentation to council as well as answered last-minute questions before the vote.
“When organizations truly look at the cost of completing these programs themselves, they quickly find (that) from an expertise standpoint, staffing, purchasing power and the ability to get it done quickly, they conclude there is very little price premium, if any, by allowing a partner to take over this kind of program,” said Rodrigues.
Summerside Mayor Bill Martin said agreeing to the partnership was a good decision.
“I’m proud of the due diligence that council and staff invested in this decision. I’m pleased we allowed Luis to address this evening. I found that his presentation, while brief, was succinct and insightful and also very helpful in staff’s ultimate assessment of the opportunity and the decision of the vote.”
Martin said he would have been able to live with the suggestion and amendment brought forward before the decision.
“I could certainly have lived with that. I don’t think there was anything wrong with the amendment. But without a seconder, (McFeely) didn’t have the support he needed to attract a vote on the amendment.”
