WHEREAS the wait time for line locates was extremely lengthy this past summer; and

WHEREAS these delays in turn cause delays for municipalities to repair roads damaged by flooding;

BE IT RESOLVED that SARM lobby the government and other agencies to register Sasktel, Sask Power and Sask Energy, etc. lines on the title of the property which would result in line locates only being required when these have been identified on the titles and also show lines running in the right of way along side of the property.

Response from Honourable Tim McMillan, Minister Responsible for Crown Investments Corporation:

I recognize that there were delays in line locates in some cases in 2011. Last year, we experienced an extraordinarily high number of line locate requests, with the volume of emergency requests being as much as six times the annual average in some cases. In addition to an increase in activity year over year, the wet spring and flooding conditions delayed activity until conditions had improved, resulting in additional line locate volume pressures.

Our standard is to complete line locates within two business days. In 2011, this standard was not met, but your member municipalities should expect improved timeliness this year, given the expectation of more normal weather conditions. We have also implemented a process where a single call to Sask 1st Call will result in multiple Crown utility lines being located at one time, which will be a more convenient and efficient way of conducting this service.

We have reviewed your resolution and determined that it would not be a practical solution to simply register buried Crown utility lines on titles. It would be costly, leading to higher utility rates for ratepayers within your municipalities. In addition, registering lines on titles would not eliminate safety considerations and the need for line locates to be conducted, nor would it address all buried lines, since many municipalities have lines owned by private companies as well as Crown utilities.