Wawa's downtown drill rig will stay.
Community Services and Tourism Director Alex Patterson had warned Wawa Municipal Council about safety concerns raised over the angle of the large piece of equipment.
A structural engineer was called in to look at the issue, confirming the rig is leaning - not a problem with the ground - with a few options considered in response, including doing nothing - nixed by the engineer due to the public safety concerns - removing the mast of the rig, removing the entire rig, or repair work aimed at addressing the problem.
Patterson had recommended "scrapping" the rig, noting the cost for repairs, the need for continued maintenance, that it could be auctioned for scrap, and that it could potentially be replaced by some other monument which would be more likely to receive other government funding, though he emphasized it was fundamentally a politcal decision, only noting that the engineer report required "something" to be done by winter.
The issue came back up in last night's Committee of the Whole meeting, first with Andy Stevens making a delegation to Council in which he lamented that an engineer had been brought in, playing down the safety concerns, and recommending efforts to preserve the rig - while Council response had previously been mixed on the future of the drill rig, it shifted to all councillors speaking in favour of keeping the rig, except Mayor Melanie Pilon, who reiterated a warning that nostalgia can be both a strength and weakness, emphasizing the health and safety concerns and warning of liability if nothing is done.
In the end, Council agreed to direct staff to take efforts to meet the engineer's report and keep the rig in place, with Patterson set to explore options that can be done for the winter, and put work on the rig into next year's capital budget - which is set to be presented in draft form next week, in a special meeting on Tuesday, September 26th.