With the design bid build RFP for a new municipal office coming in substantially over budget, council paused the project at its Oct. 10 meeting.
The municipality budgeted $100,000 in 2023 towards the pre-construction work. However, costs as prepared by successful bidder, The Ventin Group, from Toronto, came in at $376,890 plus HST.
The work on offer is developing a detailed municipal office design and parking lot and then assisting the township in putting the construction of the project out to tender, with building starting in 2024 and concluding in the fall of 2025.
Deputy treasurer, Brittany McCaw, said the balance of monies would have to be included as part of the 2024 budget if council were to proceed. She added there was surplus money available. She noted they had been putting money away for the past seven years, with more than $930,000 banked, not including the previous years’ surplus. She added the cost will only increase if they wait. Further, she argued they need shovel-ready projects for future funding applications.
She told council, “I understand there may be some concerns around the dollars,” but said staff have been lobbying for some time that one facility housing all municipal staff would: aid financial stability; be cost effective; conserve energy and increase accessibility; ease operational defragmentation; help human resources management, and there’s the potential to convert the current municipal buildings into housing units or office space.
“Currently, we cannot meet or exceed our current levels of service, which is desired by ratepayers of council,” she said. “If ratepayers are required to visit the office… they need to visit multiple offices depending on the service. So, we have a building department down in Gooderham, and then if they require planning assistance, or need to pay their taxes, they need to come up to the office in Wilberforce.” She noted they also have no permanent council chambers.
McCaw added the current buildings are at-capacity for additional staff and make it hard to plan other service models.
Coun. Cam McKenzie said, “these numbers just blew me away. We were talking about $100,000. Now, we’re into, with tax… $425,000 to get a plan and oversight. We’ve been putting money away for seven years, with $938,000 in reserves for this project. We’re going to spend half of that on the plan and the oversight… and I know that’s important, and we haven’t bought a cement block or a two-by-four… I have a hard time getting my mind around this.”
Coun. Cec Ryall said no one is arguing the need, or the return on investment, but “I think the cost is unbelievable.”
He said when they last discussed the item, he suggested working with one of the community colleges or universities on design bid build and assumed that had not occurred. He said it would not have cost $400,000.
“There’s got to be a more financial, palatable, way of doing this than $400,000 up front. This building is going to cost us $2 to $3 million bucks on the short side. Where’s that coming from? We’re going to have to borrow money or something …”, Ryall said.
Council opted not to proceed at this point.
