by Kathy Hughes

Head, Clara and Maria coun¬cil is still trying to resolve the problem of what to do with the Conway Creek culvert.

The culvert, which crosses Mackey Creek Rd., started to collapse last year, causing the road to sink. The townships put in a temporary emergency culvert and started to plan for a new one.

They had to hire a consultant to prepare engineering designs. The consultant estimated the cost of replacing the culvert at $90,000. When compared to the townships total road budget for 1994 of only $88,000, that estimated was costly, said clerk- treasurer Diane Beauchamp.

Council then wrote to the Ministry of Transportation for funding help but was told the ministry only makes decisions about such grants in May. That is too late for work to be done this year on the culvert because of water levels.

Council is now trying to get advance approval from the minister. It is still waiting for an answer.

In the meantime, the consultants informed council that the Canadian Coast Guard, which had been told about the culvert plans, had written back to say they felt the creek is navigable. There was some concern that could affect the work they would be allowed to do on the creek. But late last week, Reeve Lita Therrien said they had received further word that would not be the case.

The old culvert had apparently been in place for over 50 years.