Esterhazy Town Council: Heating and cooling units being replaced at a number of town facilities
July 21, 2025, 6:24 am
Ryan Kiedrowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Town-owned facilities requiring updated heating and cooling systems were top of the agenda during last week’s regular meeting of Town Council in Esterhazy.
During the July 17 meeting, council was presented with three requests for units at the Dana Antal Arena, the Esterhazy Public Library, and the SN Boreen Centre.
The first facility discussed was a pair of furnaces at the arena, which Recreation Director Michelle Fuhr noted, “we really struggled with them last year throughout the winter.”
Three companies were contacted for quotes on the work of replacing the outdated units—the newest of the two having been installed in 1984.
“I have contacted three companies, but only two came back in contracts,” Fuhr said, asking council for a decision on which proposal they preferred.
MC Mechanical was ultimately chosen to do the work for $12,360 plus taxes.
Next up was the library, which Fuhr explained is a combined furnace and air conditioning unit. After viewing two estimates, Vetted HVAC Services was selected to install the new heating and cooling unit at a cost of $10,890 plus applicable taxes.
Finally, a request to replace all four air conditioning units at the SN Boreen Centre was heard by council.
“I did contact three companies, and only one came back to me,” Fuhr explained. “On top of this quote, we are going to be required a crane and an electrician to put these rooftop air conditioners on.”
The current AC units also date to 1984 vintage as they are original to the building and in need of an update.
MC Mechanical will perform the replacement work at a cost of $54,350 plus applicable taxes.
Tax enforcement
“Every July, this is a process that we have to go through to proceed with tax title on properties,” said CAO Tammy MacDonald. “We give several notices along the way before we take a property by tax title, but this is a six month waiting period. We are in July, we need to start sending out the notifications to these following properties that they are going to be entering into tax enforcement.”
The letters to affected property owners is a first step in the process, more of a gentle reminder for action on their part. There are 12 properties in Esterhazy that are 50 per cent or more in tax debt from 2024, up from five the year previous.
While there are some cases of property owners repeatedly in receipt of notices, MacDonald advised that change does occur.
“It’s a first warning to enter into the tax enforcement process,” she said. “The process does work because they get it cleaned up, we’re good, and then we end up back there again. At least we didn’t take them back and then have to tender them out.”
Council approved Tax Services to be authorized under the Tax Enforcement Act that on or after July 27, 2025 to commence proceedings to request title with respect to the 12 properties.
“We actually go with a company out of Manitoba called Tax Services, and many municipalities use them now because of provincial legislation on this,” MacDonald explained.
An excess of water meters
With the vast majority of new water meters swapped over throughout Esterhazy, the question now becomes what to do with the extra units ordered. When the original company the smart meters were ordered from was contacted, town staff were advised there would be a significant restocking fee involved—between 30 and 50 per cent cost to take them back.
“The main reason is they don’t want them back because they’ve (Metercor) severed ties with the company and no longer have a use for them because they can’t sell them; because they’re no longer a distributor for them,” MacDonald explained. “The new company that is the distributor of them, we have reached out to them. They did get back to me this afternoon, and we cannot return them to them—they’re not their stock, we didn’t buy them from them. It’s like buying something from Walmart and trying to return it at Superstore.”
Options before council were to either return the meters to Metercor and pay the restocking fee, or retain them as inventory.
Councillor Maggie Rowland asked if the restocking fee was something the town was aware of at the point of purchase, to which MacDonald replied, “no, because we thought we’d ordered the right amount.”
In total, there are 65 regular meters (which would see the 30 per cent restock fee applied), six two-inch meters, and one six-inch meter (which is subject to the 50 per cent restock fee).
“The total of them was $33,000 so it’s the 30 per cent of that,” MacDonald explained. “We’re still going to get $23,000 back. I don’t predict we’re going to have 65 houses built in town—because these are all residential ones— that we would need 65 more meters. Let’s just take the 30 per cent restocking fee cost and recoup our money back. We don’t need these on hand.”
After much discussion, a motion was made to return the units to Metercor, which was passed.
