Work on the infrastructure for water and sewer services leading to the site of the city’s proposed new operations building can begin.

That became evident Monday evening, after council voted 5-1 to award Castle Rock Enterprises the servicing contract.

Coun. Samson Hartland attended Monday’s session by conference call. He was the lone vote against awarding the contract.

Once again, Hartland voiced his opposition to the overall plans for a new city operations building off of Range Road behind property owned by Northwestel Inc. and Trans North Helicopters.

Hartland has long been clear in his opposition to the plans for the new operations building.

He has argued that taxpayers cannot afford a new building, which has been estimated to cost $50 million.

It’s commonly accepted that the Municipal Services Building on Fourth Avenue is run-down and past its life.

However, Hartland has stated his belief the city would be better off to lease space than erect the new operations building.

His vote Monday night against awarding the servicing contract for water and sewer services to the site was made in an effort “to maintain some consistency,” he explained.

The city is “putting the cart before the horse” by adding services to the site before the decision to build is made, he argued.

Council awarded a $2.1-million contract to RDHA for the design and construction supervision of the building.

Hartland and Coun. Dan Boyd voted against that contract, with Boyd also taking issue with the high costs of the project.

Boyd, who also attended Monday’s meeting by conference call, voted in favour of the servicing contract. However, he noted that vote does not mean he’s in favour of the operations building going ahead.

Rather, he noted, adding services to the area is a good investment overall for the long term.

Castle Rock had the lowest of two bids for the servicing contract at $305,873. Sidhu Contracting, meanwhile, had bid $374,842.

The work had been estimated to cost $337,320.

Coun. Betty Irwin was absent from Monday’s meeting.