Council Approves Additional Funding For Two Facilities Upgrades And Repairs

Some unexpected facility issues saw Council doling out the dollars to allow for necessary repairs and upgrades to be completed.

On Monday evening Council voted in favour of approving a change order for renovation upgrades at the Kinsmen Sportsplex and repairs to the humidification control units at the Museum/Art Gallery. The additional funds requested that exceed available budgets for the unscheduled change orders and repairs approved amount to $101,525.

KINSMEN SPORTSPLEX

“As we know when you start construction projects when you tear off walls you find all sorts of materials under there that you are not aware of,” city manager Jim Puffalt said in explaining the need for a change order at the Sportsplex.

The Sportsplex is undergoing a $425,000 in upgrades to complete the replacement of the dryline suppression system in the Kinsmen Arena, replacement of the upper built roofing systems as well as interior renovations to the public washrooms, pool changerooms and reception area.

The total cost of the change orders was $71,410.04 with $14,681 of the amount covered by the project’s contingency fund leaving Council to approve an additional $56,525.

Funding will come from $26,525 in savings on the demolition of the YMCA building and $30,000 transferred from a previously approved $60,000 flooring replacement at the Library. The flooring replacement project is seen as a lower priority project and the $30,000 in work will be done next year.

During those renovation upgrades some necessary additional work was discovered by the contractor - work which was to some extent completed without prior authorization from the City or Council.

“There was some very necessary work completed there without approval by us,” Puffalt said.

The value of the unapproved work was $1,500.

According to the report to Council there were additional problems with the change order procedures as an oversight within Parks and Recreation led to the approval of $12,795.54 in change orders without a sufficient budget in place.

Puffalt said they were going to “strengthen that relationship with the contractors so they know they cannot proceed without authorization from the City.”

Councillor Jamey Logan asked whether the contractor had simply proceeded with the change order or if the change orders were approved by Administration without the funding approval of Council.

Parks and Recreation director Derek Blais said one change order project was completed without the City’s approval but “the majority of the issue was the approval of some change orders without having the budget in place which is the operational change we are looking at.”

According to the report to Council the approvals were “an oversight by the Parks and Recreation Department and operational changes are underway to ensure that change orders are approved prior to the work being completed regardless of how necessary the work is considered.”

ART GALLERY/MUSEUM

Upgraded in 2019 the humidifiers at the Art Museum need to be repaired after a major failure of 216 transducers in the units. The cost of the repairs is estimated at $45,000.

The humidification control system ensures the City’s archival collection - valued at over $3 million - is maintained at an optimum humidification level of 47 percent with minor fluctuations between 45 to 55 percent being acceptable. Currently the humidity levels range from 30 to 42 percent not only endangering the City’s artifact collection but also the ability of the museum to house a wider range of art works and artifacts for display.

Asked about the lifespan of the transducers Blais said that the lifespan was 10,000 to 15,000 hours but “many of them did not meet that.”

Councillor Logan asked if the cause for the early failures was known.

Blais said Parks and Recreation was investigating the reason for the early failures with other facilities not reporting the same failures. At the present time there is no definitive answer but they are investigating whether or not the additional cleaning and sanitation may be the culprit.

“One thing we are looking at is the additional cleaning and sanitation we have done…it is almost pinpointed to that time period (of the failures)…but we are still investigating that.”

Logan said he worried this may not be the last time funding is needed for repairs.

“My hope is we can figure out what the problem is and not have to do this year after year,” he said.

Funding for the $45,000 repair will come from the Facility Building Reserve. The Reserve is set up to pay unscheduled major building repair costs and is sustained by an annual $20,000 deposit plus interest the reserve builds. Presently the reserve has a balance of $336,800.

Council approved the expenditures in a 6 - 1 vote with Councillor Kim Robinson opposed.

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