Capital Projects

The Capital projects Advisor in our Technical Services Department is responsible for administering the Capital Management Program, the focal point of which is community infrastructure, including but not limited to: water supply, treatment, distribution and storage, wastewater collection, treatment and disposal, roads and drainage, subdivision development, and fire protection. The primary concern is the construction, operation and maintenance of infrastructure, to assure health and safety, while protecting the Bands’ investment.

Technical Services follows the policies, standards, and guidelines of Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) . Almost all capital projects are carried out with ISC involvement. On a typical project we are involved in preparation of funding requests, engineering estimates, terms-of-reference for hiring consulting firms, and tracking projects through the approval process. Upon project approval and funding, we are often involved in managing the project during construction and will also review all technical reports and drawings. As a project comes to completion final inspections, contract completion requirements (documentation and drawings), are also tracked by our office. The Technical Services department ensures that new infrastructure projects are properly planned, and administered from start to end.

Band Capital planning is also assissted by Technical Services. All required infrastructure projects are identified and prioritized for each Band on a yearly basis. This includes projects that are required to fix current problems, and deficiencies as well as to accommodate projected community growth. Land use planning is also advised by Technical Services to ensure that there are suitable areas allocated for all anticipated community uses such as residential subdivisions, commercial, and recreational developments.

Maintenance Advise

Maintenance departments are responsible for the Planning, development and implementation of Operations and Maintenance (O & M) Programs. The Advisor is responsible for determining in conjunction with Member Bands Maintenance staff, the nature of problems, the adequacy of present methods, practice and procedures in O & M and industrial safety and corrective action required for the protection of infrastructure as well as health and safety. Other responsibilities include: determining the organization staff, equipment and training necessary to provide adequate O & M practices; evaluating O & M reports and recommending immediate action where necessary; organizing O & M training for Gitksan Communities; provide hands-on training to maintenance personnel to the extent that personnel can perform duties capably without further assistance.