Infrastructure New power pole, put in without town's knowledge, disrupts drainage

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GRAND BAY-WESTFIELD - Cliff Wilson doesn't like it when his drains back up.

Enlarge Photo

Noel Chenier/Telegraph-Journal

Cliff Wilson stands next to the new power pole that was put in to replace the one that punctured his sewer line in front of his home in Grand Bay-Westfield.

Unfortunately, two days after a power pole was placed at the end of his driveway in mid-June, that happened to the Grand Bay-Westfield resident.

Wilson spent several days with the drains in his home backing up because the power pole had, unbeknownst to him, NB Power and the town, crushed the connection to the main sewage line from his home.

After spending a day making sure the issue wasn't at his end, he says he contacted the works commissioner for the town in for a look. The commissioner, Bruce Gault, snaked the drainage line that day - Friday the 13th, no less - and found the problem about 15 metres away from the house, or near the end of the driveway. A septic service was called and found the problem to be about one-and-a-half metres from the pole, says Wilson.

NB Power was called back and by noon that Saturday the pole was removed. What irked Wilson most, however, was that despite notifying the town immediately after that, the town did not replace the broken line until noon Sunday.

"Was I supposed to sit here when I can't flush a toilet?" asked Wilson.

He is also concerned why there was no member from the town present when the initial power pole was placed.

"You've got to get a permit to put a shed on your land as a homeowner. Yet somebody can just come in and drive a power pole wherever they want?"

A member from the town was present when the second pole was placed.

Wilson did note that he had a positive experience with Kirk Baxter, the operations supervisor from NB Power who assisted him once it was determined to be NB Power's fault for the placement of the pole.

Grand Bay-Westfield Mayor Grace Losier said this is the first case she has seen like this in her 16 years with the town.

"I truly am very sorry that Mr. Wilson had to go through that," said Losier.

"When NB Power is putting in a pole at our request, they stop into the office and we decide on placement together."

If the town is not alerted, though, then they're unaware of crews coming in. That was the case with Wilson's problem - a neighbour had recently upgraded their power services.

She noted that the town cannot go in and fix problems on private property, and a municipal bylaw requires residents to determine if the problem is in the public or private section first. Wilson did this check Thursday and Friday, which is why the problem was not addressed until late Friday.

After unsuccessfully attempting to arrange two private work crews to fix the line, a town work crew could only be assembled for Sunday at noon, said Losier.

The mayor said she wants this problem to be addressed properly in the future.

"What I want to happen is NB Power and the works commissioner to sit down and have a discussion, so that we can both move forward and that our residents can be assured that when NB Power is in our community, that we know where they are and that they're not near any municipal existing infrastructure."

Sometime this week, the mayor said she hopes to schedule a meeting for the near future.

Michel Losier, a media representative from NB Power, said the company is glad the situation has been worked out.

"It's great to see that things are back to normal," he said. "At the end of the day, we're looking into what took place. We are taking it seriously."