Those who were slated to move into the Wildrose Villa’s newly-renovated assisted living units had their move-in date postponed last minute, due to roof leakage in early January.
Athabasca County Reeve Doris Splane, who sits on the Greater North Foundation board of directors, presented information about the delay at county council’s Jan. 9 meeting.
“We’ve got some joyous times over at the Wildrose Villa,” she said. “On the end of last week, it was discovered the insulation was not properly installed – or was absent in some places – so the pipes were condensing and leakage was coming through the ceiling tiles.”
According to a letter from Greater North Foundation chief administrative officer Shirley Surgenor that was attached to council’s agenda package, the facility was set to open Jan. 9. However, maintenance personnel noticed the leakage issue Jan. 3.
Original insulation for the second and final phase of the new Wildrose Villa facility was removed when asbestos abatement was conducted “many month ago.” New insulation was to be installed, but was not completed in “at least some areas,” Surgenor wrote.
Splane said the renovations had passed inspection, however when the contractors were out Jan. 9 with government officials, they found the work was not done properly.
“Tomorrow, there’s supposed to be people there with insulators to start redoing and making this job proper,” she said. “As to time frame, and so when it will be up and passing inspection, and when people will be moving in, we don’t know.”
Coun. Larry Armfelt asked if the inspectors who gave the green light on the faulty work were contracted by the county or the government. Splane said the inspector was part of a group contracted by the county.
Armfelt said somewhere down the line council needs to have a discussion about criteria and job expectations for the inspection group.
“Maybe it’s good, maybe it’s bad – but I think we should do an evaluative type of discussion,” he said. Armfelt asked the item be added to a future council meeting agenda.
The item was presented for information, and a motion by Coun. Christine Bilsky to accept Splane’s report as information was passed unanimously.
This latest delay is one of many in the Wildrose Villa renovation project. The approximately $11-million project, funded by provincial and federal dollars, began construction in 2015 and was anticipated to be complete October 2016.
