Most projects funded by COVID stimulus grants nearing completion

By COLLIN GALLANT on January 19, 2022.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

City council members bandied about the details and merits of the Towne Square project on Monday, but were generally pleased to receive a report that almost all projects paid for with COVID stimulus grants last year are nearing completion and are near budget estimates.

About $1.1 million was added to the Towne Square budget, described by administrators as refinement of costs, about the same amount of cash was added to north-end pickleball facility that will be open this spring.

The majority of projects are on budget and complete, or will be once the construction season reopens late this winter.

Coun. Ramona Robins said residents should note the city has benefitted from the overall construction plan put together over the course of last winter on projects required to be complete in one year to qualify for $23 million government grants.

“There are a number of things that will improve the recreational opportunities of our citizens,” she told council.

Coun. Robert Dumanowski said the city has dealt with heavy construction inflation and passed other hurdles.

“We have a number of projects that were put together in a hurried state and they’re moving along,” he said.

The report presented Monday lays out progress the city has made after accessing two major grant programs in late 2020.

A total of $8.5 million was provided from the provincial Municipal Stimulus Program for five projects. That includes the remake of the city-owned parking lot at 603 First Street into a “Towne Square” marketplace where parking stalls could be used as festival space. About $2 million of the project’s $3.1 million budget is paid for by the grant.

Among the others, upgrades at Gas City Campground ($1.3 million), multi-use trail extension program ($1.2 million) and a new pickleball facility ($2 million) are all essentially complete with minor work scheduled for the spring.

Upgrades at the BMX club facility near the Big Marble Go Centre are mostly complete, but about $100,000 over the original $500,000 budget. That difference is being covered by an increased loan to the BMX Club which operates the site and some cash from the city’s capital reserve.

Some proposed items, such as a public washroom, were eliminated, but with the province signalling grant changes could result in denial, staffers pushed ahead with a pared-down proposal.

City manager Bob Nicolay defended the decision, and his ability to re-allot funds from the city’s mid-term “Brier Run” subdivision to cover the immediate-term Towne Square shortfall.

In the larger federal grant program, which allowed the city to redirect long-term transit grants, the city received $14.9 million for a 13 separate project envelopes.

The major item in that category is the $3 million upgrade to Athletic Park bleachers and ticket office (supply shortages will see the work concluded in the early spring), and the $2.15 million expansion of city offices across from city hall, where steel shortage has caused delay.

Four smaller projects are complete on budget, such as the creation of a mobile app to access city services ($500,000), Echo Dale water treatment plant upgrades ($340,000), a $1-million addition to sidewalk rehabilitation program, and new water tanks and fire alarm systems at two city buildings ($170,000 total).

Two rooftop ventilation units will also be installed at a cost of $530,000.

A total of $950,000 is directed to transit system upgrades (electronic scheduling, fare and dispatch systems) which should be completed in the spring.

A plan to re-roof four city buildings for $750,000 was cut down to two facilities when tendering showed higher than expected bids, though the work is now done.

The largest financial item on the list – $3.3 million for structural and cosmetic work on seven pedestrian bridges – is mainly complete with some deficiency work still scheduled.

A planned tree-planting program for Echo Dale Regional Park came in higher than expected bids for “reforestation” added $330,000 to the plan to spend $400,000 while some aspects were scaled back.

As well, contractors will be required to complete two trail extensions that came in $75,000 more than the specific $1.46-million budget.