City of Powell River Council will request staff submit an application for grant funding for city hall improvements, amounting to nearly $4.3 million.
At the February 18 council meeting, councillors considered a recommendation for an application to the Canada Infrastructure Program – COVID-19 resilience infrastructure stream, which, if approved, would provide the city 100 per cent funding for an extensive city hall upgrade.
Councillor Jim Palm, who holds the portfolio for infrastructure, introduced the recommendation. He said he is overjoyed by this announcement because the city has been talking about an upgrade to city hall for more than a decade.
“It’s long overdue; it was a great job of staff to put this together to make this project shovel ready in a short period of time” said Palm. “In terms of the overall scope of this grant, this is 100 per cent grant funding. We are applying for $4,297,378.”
Palm listed items that have been identified for the project. The first is a building envelope replacement, inclusive of windows. Also identified are seismic upgrades to the interior and exterior of the building.
Improvements will include office space for staff on the third floor in the old council chambers space, and shower and change-room facilities for staff utilizing active transportation. The project will include supply and installation of a bicycle shelter and a 20KW backup generator.
On the energy side, there will be supply and installation of solar panels, plus supply and installation of heat pumps for the new downstairs offices and council chambers.
Finally, the grant application calls for supply and installation of a two-stop elevator serving the main and upper floor.
“We have a very good chance of receiving these funds,” said Palm. “When we first talked about this, even before this grant became available, mayor [Dave] Formosa was banging the table in the chamber here saying we need to find funding to do this job. Hopefully we have found some.”
Councillor Maggie Hathaway said she wanted to repeat that the grant is 100 per cent dollars, which means it covers the entire cost of the renovation.
“It’s a total win-win,” said Hathaway. “It’s a disruption to staff but the good news is a lot of people are working from home at the moment, so it would be the least disruption. The building really does need to be upgraded.”
Councillor CaroleAnn Leishman, chair of the committee of the whole, said she wanted to thank staff for all of the work in putting the grant application together. She said an application of this scope requires extensive cost analysis and other detail.
“If we are successful, it will be huge for retrofitting our building,” said Leishman. “It will be massive and will save us a lot on utility costs because the building is basically pumping hot air out.”
Councillor Cindy Elliott said she concurred with her colleagues and is in favour of this project.
“I’m very excited about the opportunity that has come to apply for this grant,” said Elliott. “I think I speak for others in the community that the accessibility of our building today is abysmal and the improvements of having the elevator and accessibility of the floors to all people with mobility issues is amazing. It’s going to make us a better organization overall, so I’m very excited.”
The motion passed indicates council supports the project and commits to any associated ineligible costs and cost overruns.
At the February 16 committee of the whole meeting, director of infrastructure Tor Birtig said in December 2020, staff brought a report to committee of the whole for consideration of a grant application for the funding program under which the city is applying. He said staff was directed to apply for funding for improvements to city hall.
In a report to council, Birtig stated that if the project is successful in attaining the grant, work must be completed by December 31, 2021.
“Obviously, we would have to move fast,” Birtig told the committee, “to complete this work by the end of December.”
