Rural Municipality of Hanover office

 

The Rural Municipality of Hanover is making sure it has all of its ducks in a row for the Spring thaw.
   
Reeve Stan Toews tells us the municipality owns one steamer and has signed a contract to have a second one ready in case there are frozen culverts to deal with in Spring. By booking the steamer, the municipality must guarantee at least $2,500 worth of work. Reeve Toews notes if they use the steamer for only one culvert, it's a pretty expensive job. But nonetheless he says it's good insurance to have this in place.
   
Reeve Toews says in 2009 the municipality used its own steamer but eventually picked up a second one. He notes this time around they don't want to wait until they might need a second one, especially considering there is no guarantee there will be any available to rent.
   
Reeve Toews says this makes much more sense than purchasing an additional steamer because in this case the municipality doesn't have to find an operator for the steamer, and also if there is disaster assistance available, the municipality receives a much larger reimbursement for renting a steamer as opposed to operating its own.
   
Having said that, Reeve Toews says it's only January and way too early to tell if the there will be any problem whatsoever this Spring with frozen culverts.