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Drones discussed at town hall

Regarding potential RFP for bridges inspection
Battleford town hall winter

Town council talked some more Monday about a request for proposals that may be put out for the North Saskatchewan River Truss Bridge inspections.

The potential RFP would be for a drone to inspect the bridges. The use of drones had been discussed at the March 16 meeting. A motion was defeated at that time which would have awarded a contract in excess of over $10,000 for use of a drone --- an amount which “seemed like a lot” according to Mayor Ames Leslie.

The thinking, it was explained, was that by going with an RFP process they might get bids at a better price.

The discussion Monday was mainly informational about that ongoing process. Chief administrative officer John Enns-Wind told council the drone would be an extra cost.

“The concern for administration isn’t the known cost. It’s the unknown cost,” said Enns-Wind, referring to the parts of the bridge underneath that for many years hadn't been inspected.  

He noted other ways to inspect the bridge would be to build a ramp down there, which had been discussed a couple of years earlier. But that would cost more than the cost of the drones, he said. 

The plan is to bring the issue back to council again, which will likely include numbers for the cost of drones versus the cost of inspections.