WESTLOCK – A new $4.44-million public works shop and cold-storage facility, along with the demolition of Jubilee Arena, tabbed at $1 million, and $200,000 towards the revitalization of the Polymanth Playground top the Town of Westlock’s 2022 capital budget project list.
Approved unanimously by councillors at their Dec. 13 meeting, the $8,111,961 2022 budget also has $1,648,461 worth of carry forward projects from 2021 — a portion of that list includes $713,164 worth of work left on 108th Street, $451,131 for improvements to 100th Street (108th Avenue to 115th Avenue) and $57,500 for an EV charger.
In her briefing to council, CAO Simone Wiley said that funding will come via $4.3 million in federal and provincial grants, $3.1 million from restricted and unrestricted reserves and a $700,000 debenture specifically to pay for the public works shop. The entirety of the capital budget document, which covers 2022-2026, counts $20,9390,225 in projects.
“Considering that we’re doing $8 million worth of work and only $700,000 is debentured speaks to (finance director) Julia’s (Seppola) team in financial planning to be able to allow for these sorts of projects to happen. We’ve really found a cadence associated with reserve dollars, grant dollars and MSI funding,” said Coun. Murtaza Jamaly.
“Last year I didn’t think it was possible to spend as much as we did on infrastructure and we did it taking on minimal amounts of debt as a municipality. I think that the financial planning, in line with our GIS planning around our infrastructure, is driving our successes as a municipality.”
Added mayor Ralph Leriger: “I can remember the first capital lists were long, long, long. It’s easy to look at a shorter list like this and say that we’re not biting off as much as we usually do, but I don’t think that’s the case. Last year was a huge year and we knew that a couple of them were multi-year projects.”
In her briefing to council, Wiley noted that they’re facing significant financial challenges due to the reduction in Municipal Sustainability Initiative grant dollars — money which is tabbed for capital work. Over the last five years they’ve averaged $1.18 million yearly, compared to $541,000 for 2022 and 2023, a 54 per cent reduction. She notes that the province has announced a new program for 2024 for capital funding, but it will not be to the same levels as the previous one.
“It’s a certainly a challenge to be able to fund everything we were looking for. Year-over-year it’s approaching 60 per cent and that’s significant to us as a smaller town and it’s forced us as a team to really look at what projects we not only have capacity to do, but have financial capacity to do as well,” said Wiley, noting the reduction has also forced them to space out capital road projects, or find other funding sources to minimize borrowing.
In a follow-up interview, Leriger called the reductions “worrisome” for all municipalities.
“It’s a huge concern and a significant loss in funding. The province seems to be reverting to a just-in-time model of looking after infrastructure … they’re clearly doing that, just look at the highways through town and the fact that in the last three years they’ve put cold mix in potholes in -30 C weather. And we certainly don’t want to fall into that trap with municipal infrastructure,” said Leriger. “I’m really glad that we got our big projects, 108th and the stormwater infrastructure, done when we did. Thankfully we had saved and looked forward to those because they could have been delayed years into the future based on the funding levels now.”
New digs for public works
Work on the new shop, which be located north of the current one, is slated to start around the end of the first quarter 2022.
Wiley said the current building has “exceeded its current life” as plans for a replacement started in earnest three years ago following a structural report which outlined needed fixes.
“Our target is to break ground in the spring, but we have already started discussions with our engineering firm and we’ve got a concept already laid out so with council passing the budget we’re well on our way to getting going in the new year,” said Wiley.
The construction of the new shop will mean the ball diamond, which had initially been intended as a stop-gap facility when constructed years ago, will be bulldozed.
“And given the location of that ball diamond it couldn’t have been part of a long-term plan. If it was it wasn’t a very cohesive plan,” said Leriger.
In a follow-up interview Wiley said they’ve had talks with minor ball about a replacement “and will be making strides to do improvements to other diamonds to accommodate for the loss of this one.”
The 2024 capital budget does list $700,000 for ball diamond replacement, although that’s not necessarily aimed at replacing the one that’s being lost, she added.
“There’s still discussion council needs to have regarding recreation and that’s one of the things that will be discussed in a recreation master plan,” said Wiley, noting this year’s budget has $120,000 tabbed for that document.
The cold storage facility, as well a salt shed which is a $319,537 carry-forward project from 2021, will also be located on the same parcel of land to the west of the new shop.
The current shop is named after Dave G. Turner, a long-time town employee and community booster. When asked, Leriger and Wiley both said they haven’t had any conversations about whether the name will remain on the new building.
“I think it was named after him for very good reasons and respectfully so, but we haven’t had that conversation yet,” said the mayor.
End in sight for Jubilee
As for Jubilee Arena, all of council are looking forward to the $1-million demo and reclamation of the site with Coun. Randy Wold noting it’s appropriate as it’s been a decade since the Rotary Spirit Centre opened.
“It will be nice to get rid of the old building, open up some room for parking and hopefully see our building a bit better,” said Wold.
The 2022 project, which is slated to go ahead during the construction season, will be funded via unrestricted reserves.
“This is about better allocation of our real estate and improving the visage and public sentiment around the facility (RSC) … all of those intangibles not tied into it. It’s $1 million, so it’s not a small amount of money, but there is no debt potentially going into this project,” added Jamaly.
Leriger said the timing also fits with the construction of the new cold-storage facility on the public works parcel as over the last 10 years Jubilee has served as a cold-storage facility for the municipality housing a fleet of old emergency vehicles and other equipment.
“It’s a combination of the timing of being able to start the new shop project, but Jubilee was going to need money to be able to keep it safely standing. No one wants to pour money into a building that ultimately you want to tear down,” said Leriger.
Jubilee Arena was supposed to be levelled in 2012, but those plans were shelved following the discovery of asbestos — a 2012 report stated that 16 of 26 building-material samples tested positive for the substance. That same year then-mayor Bruce Lennon said they had budgeted $200,000-$300,000 for the demolition — a figure that didn’t include dealing with asbestos — so it was left standing.
Council then talked about demolishing the building in late 2018 and briefly considered the possibility of renos to use it as warm-storage facility. But when faced with a $1 million price tag for that work, or $900,000 to simply demolish it, council balked and put the issue on the backburner.
According to back issues of the Westlock News, 1,500 people attended the official grand opening of the Westlock and District Jubilee Family Recreation Centre on July 13, 1963.
The arena, which cost $75,744 to build, was one of a handful of major builds in the community from 1962-1964 which saw the construction of the current county administration building, the auxiliary hospital and St. Mary School. Work started on the project in late 1962 when the structural concrete was poured and then cured over the winter. The first hockey game at the rink, which was played on natural ice, was Dec. 29, 1963.
Polymanth first in line for new equipment
And while the new shop and Jubilee reno are the high-profile, seven-figure projects, councillors were also excited about the revitalization of Polymanth Playground, located at 108A Avenue and 107th Street, as the first of three planned playground projects over the next four years — East Glen Park in slated for 2024 with Lions Park in 2026.
“Administratively we did quite a bit of work in assessing our playgrounds last year so that we were well-positioned to bring forward a condition assessment,” said Wiley.
Community services director Gerry Murphy said the $200,000 is “about the minimum budget for a playground that would be usable.”
“I’m really excited about the playground and not just this one, but all the ones that will be done,” added Coun. Abby Keyes.
Leriger said the decision to start with Polymanth was a “data-driven” decision.
“We’ve looked at our census to see where the kids are living. I’m excited about it too, because at the end of the day if you don’t do them, then all of sudden they’re all gone at the same time,” he added.
Finding water leaks
An $80,000 water distribution leak detection system was also highlighted by public works director Robin Benoit, who said there’s a “high (water) loss right now and we’re not seeing those actual leaks surfacing.”
In a follow-up interview Wiley said that in 2021 roughly 20 per cent of all the water purchased by the town from the regional water commission that flowed through the distribution system was lost to leaks. The lost water cost the town $276,270 — see more on that revelation soon.
Combing technology from Bell Canada and Mueller Water Products, the system will be able to pinpoint current and pending water leaks and alert crews. Wiley said there’s a lot of operational efficiencies attached to this program beyond just detecting the loss of water.
“And for the leaks that we don’t have yet, but may come along, it will also identify those. They start out as a small leak and eventually they become a large one,” Benoit said. “Water finds its way through the easiest paths and there will be an impact on our lagoon system as well, so (by doing this) we’re not sending water there and filling it up faster. There are a number of pluses to the program.”
Benoit said 65 “pucks” will be mounted on fire hydrants around the community and feed data back to the town.
“I really like to see a project like this. Every municipality has leaks and we’ve been thinking about this for a number of years,” said Coun. Curtis Snell.
Leriger concurred and said they’ve been looking at different tech over the past eight years to try and solve the problem but “we hadn’t been able to find an affordable solution that we were confident in that would provide a good result.”
“They don’t fix themselves and they don’t get better with time,” Leriger said. “We’ve been looking at this for a long time for sure. It’s been about finding the right way to address it.”
More projects
Energy efficiency upgrades at the Heritage Building and Rotary Spirit Centre are also listed at $163,000 and $41,000 respectively and are being paid for via grants.
While the RSC is an energy audit, Murphy said the Heritage Building project includes improving air quality and the replacement of the boiler which “is almost as old as I am and in much worse shape.”
Rec wise, a $120,000 parks and recreation master plan is also planned, while the tennis courts are slated for $33,000 worth of resurfacing work.
Other notable projects include $165,000 to de-sludge the lagoon, $66,300 for a replacement snow blower, $85,000 for a command truck, $58,200 for rehab work at the fire hall and $12,000 for a vehicle stabilization kit.
“One of the things I’ve really appreciated with this budget process is that administration has come back with business models around the spending of the dollars — even when it came to the funding the (water) detection project. What would repayment of the program look like when it came to labour savings and water savings … it’s not a stab in the dark. These are projects that the taxpayers will see a return on,” said Jamaly.
