Once again, there's a question on whether the court-imposed 2008 deadline for Dawson's sewage system to be built will be met, territorial court heard Wednesday.

There may be a problem with the new regulatory process (through the Yukon Environmental Socioeconomic Assessment Act, or YESAA), Tony Crossman, the lawyer representing the territory and Dawson City told Judge Heino Lilles during the scheduled report on the progress being made on the sewage plant.

'There's uncertainty there,' said Crossman, noting the intent remains to meet the December 31, 2008 deadline.

The original court-imposed deadline for the sewage treatment plant to be up and running passed in 2004. It was ordered by Lilles after the town pleaded guilty to depositing, or allowing sewage to be deposited, into the Yukon River. A $5,000 fine was also imposed.

Since that time, Dawson's mayor and council was fired as the town faced bankruptcy, a trustee was appointed by the territory to oversee the community, democracy was restored in the June 15 election and on Monday, Mayor John Steins (who was acclaimed) and his elected council were sworn into office.

In addition to the financial package for the city, the territory agreed to take over the management to get the sewage plant up and operating. Dawson is responsible for the ongoing operation and maintenance of the facility.

As Lilles described it during the proceedings, the communities are a product of the territory and have a sort of parent/child relationship.

'This child has just graduated from high school and the mayor's going to try to get this child into college,' said Lilles.

Two days after the swearing-in ceremony Monday, Steins found himself before Judge Heino Lilles on Wednesday stressing the limited funds that will be available for operations in a town of about 1,800 and speaking in favour of the possible single cell sewage treatment plant.

His presentation came after he and officials with the Department of Community Services listened to several issues from Crown prosecutors, concerned the court-ordered Dec. 31, 2008 deadline for the sewage treatment plant to be up and running will not be met.

With the limited funds available to the city, Steins told the judge he is excited by the potential savings that could come if the new option proves to be a possibility in technical reports which should be completed shortly.

'I think there's a lot of potential there,' he said, also stressing the sewage treatment plant is a the first priority for the new city counsel.

'I mean it. It's something we have to deal with,' he said.

The court also heard from assistant deputy minister of Community Services Eric Magnuson, who clarified that the project is not conditional on federal infrastructure funds that the territory has applied for, but rather that if the funds aren't available the issue will go back to management board for consideration. The management board is in place to ensure funds are spent appropriately, he said.

'The Yukon government has made this very much a priority,' he said.

Throughout the afternoon session, the court heard from Crossman that the possibility of the single cell option which may be cheaper and would be closer to the community, came up more recently. A detailed report on the system is expected within a few weeks, Crossman said.

It was a pilot study that determined the single cell option could be a possibly.

'Obviously it's a significant spending of public funds,' said Crossman, in arguing the reasons for looking at a less expensive option.

He also told the court of the territory taking over the project to get it running and of the application to the Canadian Strategic Infrastructure Fund.

An announcement on the federal funding is expected shortly, the court heard.

While the lawyer was adamant that the issue is being dealt with as quickly as possible, Crown prosecutor John Cliffe, visiting from Vancouver, brought up issues around the timelines and the continued problems with communications.

He pointed out the situation around Dawson's sewage system has been around since 1983.

Are we just continuing a chapter in an ongoing book, he questioned.

'There seems to be seeds of that,' Cliffe said.

What happens if the single cell option doesn't turn out to be viable, he questioned.

He also called for a back-up plan to be in place, pointing out that if one option is considered as a back-up, the land proposed hasn't been confirmed as available yet.

'If you don't have the land, you don't have the project,' he said.

Cliffe asked the judge to remind the town and territory of the court order and that the sewage system must be a priority and ask that they get on with the work in meaningful way.

'We're running quickly out of time,' he said.

He pointed out that in the past seven months there's only been two meetings between the two sides.

His hope, he said, is that Wednesday's hearing was only a burp in the process.

In an interview this morning, Magnuson acknowledged that the territory may not have communicated to Environment Canada what was happening with the project as well as perhaps should have been.

Over past few months, much of the work has been going through approval processes, putting the territory in a situation where they had nothing to report because they were waiting to get information. There were also issues around confidentiality, court heard yesterday.

What were monthly meetings turned to letters, he said.

'I think there was just a feeling of nervousness with the file,' said Magnuson of yesterday's update session in court.

After each side appeared before the judge, Lilles had each lawyer and a few representatives meet in chambers to come to some sort of agreement on how to improve communications and satisfy some of the concerns brought forward.

While there has been progress made, Lilles said some of the issues need to be dealt with.

What he had in mind, he said, is that the territory would come up with more timelines on an alternative proposal and whether that would go through the YESAA process and how it would impact it.

There should also be a plan on how the project will be funded if the infrastructure funding is not successful, said the judge.

There may be additional issues dealt with as well in the meeting, he said.

Along with the monthly meetings that could help provide more open communication where possible, Magnuson said the territory agreed that a contingency on funding and plant location is planned to be in place and more information available on the single cell option in time for the next court update on Nov. 21.

'We feel fairly confident those things will come through,' said Magnuson, noting he was pleased with the court hearing.

While the judge recognized there was progress, he was careful on the need to make sure the project was truly moving forward.

Similarly Dawson's new mayor was happy with yesterday's hearing. He said he was hoping the meeting after the hearing would see a greater degree of co-operation between the territory and Environment Canada.

'I think it will be,' he said, noting the judge was fair and open with both sides.

Both he and council see it as an issue which has to be resolved ASAP, within the possible boundaries.

'We're very focused on that,' he said.