Just imagine.
A house that’s been there for decades, right here in Renfrew. Property taxes paid diligently and on time, same thing with the water bill. Never, ever, in all that time, has there ever had a problem with water in the basement. Never.
Along comes the year 2023, and the Town of Renfrew has undertaken to pave the road outside this home. It’s absolutely thrilling. The street the house is on, Haig Avenue, hasn’t been a safe coffee-drinking road in a long time with all the hills, valleys, and moguls. But now, the town in going to put down some fresh asphalt, sprucing up the entire neighbourhood, and likely having a positive impact on property values.
Honestly, what’s not to like?
The engineering, that’s what.
There’s at least one home along Haig Avenue here in Renfrew where something negligent was done, it wasn’t caught until this year, and that’s enough time for the warranty to pass that allows the town to wiggle out of any liability for any damages caused through that negligence.
There are three parties that could have fingers pointed at them. First, the Town of Renfrew, the entity with overall responsibility. The contractor, who wasn’t named, and was the entity that made the changes resulting in the damage. And then the engineering consultants, good old JP2G, seemingly omni-present whenever a shovel gets pushed into the ground here in Renfrew.
The home has been here since Napoleon seized control of France, or at the very least, for a very long time. Decades is not an exaggeration.
Back when the home was built, back in the 1920’s, a sewer line was placed in the sub-basement that would allow any water present to have an outtake to the main sewer line. Over all those many years, not a drop of water ever became a problem at 356 Haig. It seems the folks building homes back in 1920’s had an idea of what they were doing, which is saying something given the many horror stories being unearthed every time a backhoe reveals buried, yet undocumented, infrastructure here in town.
I’m not clear why, but apparently, during the reworking of the road, that sewer egress from the home was blocked, meaning that water could no longer flow to the main sewer line. In fact, the line that once served as an outtake for water suddenly transformed into a water intake. And water being water, it’ll always flow along the path of least resistance, which in this case, ended up being into the basement of of 356 Haig Avenue.
For whatever reason, the contractor decided that the home needed a different egress, higher up and through the wall of the basement, a couple of feet higher than where the old, now discontinued one, was located. Building code demands that when such an egress is installed, that there needs to be a sump pump simultaneously installed. That didn’t happen to the house on Haig.
And so in came the water, especially since the winter of 2024-2025 had far more snow than the winter of 2023-2024, meaning more spring runoff, meaning more pressure on the system, and therefore more water in the basement.
The new furnace is toast. A sump pump needed to be purchased. Furniture and possessions located in the basement were ruined or destroyed.
It’s to the point where the status quo that existed before the re-paving of the street is starting to look really good in comparison.
Norm Bujold is a local home builder, so he’s got an idea or two about how houses are to be built, the ins and outs of the business, and the responsibilities that contractors have when they undertake work for municipalities.
Bujold, a friend of the owner, visited the home on Haig to take a look around and perhaps provide an assessment. It didn’t take long for him to get to the brass tacks of the problem. That is, of course, after he pumped the water out of the basement.
He contacted the Town of Renfrew, and guess what? Nobody called him back or attempted to get back to him at all. He contacted the engineering consultant and the contractor as well, and received pathetic non-replies or suggestions that he should call someone else. In a nutshell, he contacted the town and was told to talk to the engineers. He called the engineers and was told to contact the contractor. He contacted the contractor and was told he should approach the town.
Here we go again, with another episode of Renfrew’s favourite game show, Hamsters on a Wheel, where nobody goes home a winner, unless we count certain admin-types as contestants.
In addition to the town not getting back to him in any responsible manner, they also indicated that the warranty that may have made them liable for repairs had expired, since it was a one-year warranty. As mentioned, the winter of 2023-24 had much less snow, meaning much less runoff, and much less water that could potentially flood a basement. The road work was done in the summer of 2023. That means that when the floods happened this year, in 2025, it was two years since the construction, meaning the warranty had expired, and by all the gods, Renfrew was going to use this fact as their way to sidestep any after-the-fact responsibility for the negligence perpetrated on the owner of 356 Haig.
Mr. Bujold made a delegation presentation to Council on Tuesday night to inform that body of the situation with respect to this home owner. He did this of his own accord, attempting to right a wrong foisted upon an innocent resident by careless work done under the auspices of the town.
He was met with silence. Nothing. Absolutely Cricketville.
The fellow before, in his own delegation, talked about how he got a water bill from the town for over $700 because their system showed that he had been consuming water non-stop for a period of six days despite all evidence to the contrary. That gentlemen took two or three questions from Council. Norm Bujold got none.
Again, we have a situation where the staffers at Fort Renfrew refuse to respond to enquiries. A situation where they, with full intent, ignore the concerns of town residents.
People don’t vote for town lackeys, but they do vote for the politicians.
If our current local politicians follow the same rude policy of their administrative brothers and sisters, they run the risk of losing votes, especially if they fail in their fiduciary duty to protect residents from the excesses and negligence of their own staff or of third parties entrusted with important work. Council must act on this, and by acting I mean putting the necessary pressure on the administrative staff, particularly the CAO, to either bring these people to heel or have them removed. On this issue or any others where staff get beyond themselves and their jurisdictional responsibilities, or when they get lost in the shadows thrown by their giant egos.
Council must understand and take seriously what is happening to a resident as a result of a project sponsored by the town. That’s the barest of minimums here. Taking restorative action is the ethically correct next move after that.
If this is happening at 356 Haig, could it be happening elsewhere along Haig, or any of the other close-by streets also part of the paving revitalization back in 2023? Might the town want to get ahead of this, be a little bit pro-active, and investigate any other potential situations that may potentially be brewing, and maybe get some sump pumps installed where/if necessary? You know, in advance of any future calamity? As an inexpensive investment against any potential future lawsuits? As a mitigation of risk?
And if 356 Haig is the outlier, the only place where the problem exists, then what horrible precedent will be set if restitution is made to the owner of a single home?
A failure to act on this with an ethical lens brings shame and disrepute onto our town.
In the real world, outside the walls of Fort Renfrew, it’s called doing the right thing.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 